Battle of Dau Tieng

The Battle of Dau Tieng was a battle of the Vietnam War which was fought on 24 August 1968 near the Cambodian border with South Vietnam.

On 23 August, 19 helicopters ferried the 1st and 2nd Platoons to a new landing zone near Cambodia, between Cu Chi and Tay Ninh. The US Army Rangers would have to block a battalion of North Vietnamese troops who were trying to escape across the border, and they were reinforced by a platoon of mechanized infantry, 3 APCs, and a tank. The fewer than 150 US troops, under Captain Vincent Okamoto, spent the entire day setting up Claymore mines and setting up three coils of razor wire to protect their positions. At 10:00 PM on 24 August, the NVA launched a heavy mortar barrage, disabling all of the American armored vehicles. The Americans fired flares to gain a visual on the scores of NVA troops charging through the elephant grass, and Viet Cong mortar shells blasted two gaps in the razor wire, threatening to overrun the Americans. The Americans attempted to hold back the communists as they charged in wave after wave, and Okamoto ran to an APC, pulled out the dead gunner, and manned the machine-gun and fired it until he ran out of ammunition. He then moved to the second APC and then the third, emptying their guns into the NVA. The NVA assaults continued, so the Americans resorted to throwing communist hand grenades back at them. During the night, the NVA and VC withdrew into Cambodia, taking most of their dead with them. A third of Okamoto's company was lost in the battle, but Okamoto was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in honor of his leadership.